In my early days of brewing lagers, I never needed to perform long diacetyl rests that I can recall, however, back then, I didn't really take very good records of things, and it's also possible I've just become more sensitive to the compound diacetyl as time goes on.
Lately, I've found it takes about two weeks for my lagers to clear diacetyl, with a noteable exception being Augustiner which seems to produce very little of it. But with S-189, Diamond, and 34/70, I've found even after a week, they will fail the microwave VDK test even after 7 days at, say, 65°F. I've tried fermenting at 30 psi, 15 psi, atmospheric pressure, cooler (50°F), warmer (55-58°F), you name it. Doesn't seem to matter.
I have a Schwarzbier with S-189 right now that hit terminal exactly one week ago, at which point I ramped slowly from 52°F to 65°F for a D-rest. After about 2-3 days, I then pulled a sample and it was a butter bomb, so I'll patiently wait one more week and then re-check. Yeast pitch rate should have been sufficient: one pack, ~1L starter, crashed, decanted, etc, and primary fermentation completely in a timely 7 days. I did not oxygenate or use yeast nutrients, however, and I'm wondering if those would have helped me.
Bottom line this is the thing that frustrates me about lager brewing, that I have to wait so long for diacetyl to clear when I feel like I shouldn't have that much to begin with, so I'm creating this poll and thread to discuss it.
Lately, I've found it takes about two weeks for my lagers to clear diacetyl, with a noteable exception being Augustiner which seems to produce very little of it. But with S-189, Diamond, and 34/70, I've found even after a week, they will fail the microwave VDK test even after 7 days at, say, 65°F. I've tried fermenting at 30 psi, 15 psi, atmospheric pressure, cooler (50°F), warmer (55-58°F), you name it. Doesn't seem to matter.
I have a Schwarzbier with S-189 right now that hit terminal exactly one week ago, at which point I ramped slowly from 52°F to 65°F for a D-rest. After about 2-3 days, I then pulled a sample and it was a butter bomb, so I'll patiently wait one more week and then re-check. Yeast pitch rate should have been sufficient: one pack, ~1L starter, crashed, decanted, etc, and primary fermentation completely in a timely 7 days. I did not oxygenate or use yeast nutrients, however, and I'm wondering if those would have helped me.
Bottom line this is the thing that frustrates me about lager brewing, that I have to wait so long for diacetyl to clear when I feel like I shouldn't have that much to begin with, so I'm creating this poll and thread to discuss it.
